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Associated Press

POSTED:November 6, 2012 10:45 a.m.

WASHINGTON — Around the country on Election Day 2012 with AP reporters bringing the latest developments to you:

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HAPPIEST VOTE EVER

"Oh my God, I have been so anxious about being able to vote. ... It's such a relief to be able to do it. This is the happiest vote I ever cast in my life." — Annette DeBona of Point Pleasant Beach, N.J., voting in an area hit hard by Superstorm Sandy.

The 73-year-old restaurant worker was so worried about not being able to vote that she called the police department several days in advance, as well as her church, to make absolutely sure she knew where to go and when.

"There's no doubt that people have tried to put obstacles in our way in Congress, playing politics instead of doing what we need to do to make sure everybody is getting a fair shot." — President Barack Obama, interviewed on 99 Jamz in Miami.

On a brisk, sunny morning in the heavily Democratic District of Columbia, long lines of voters wearing wool caps and winter coats stood outside schools serving as polling places along Wisconsin and Connecticut avenues, main commuter routes into downtown Washington.

At Washington bus shelters, an electronic ad flashed: "It's Time to Vote! The Presidential Election on Tuesday. X-Factor on Wednesday!"

— Sally Buzbee

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ROMNEY'S BALLOT

"I think you know," Mitt Romney says. The question: Who did he vote for?

Romney has just cast his ballot in the presidential election.

His wife, Ann, was at his side when the pair cast their ballots near their Belmont, Mass. home a little before 9 a.m. EST. The Republican presidential candidate returns to Boston Tuesday night for an Election Day reception at the Boston Convention Center.

Two North Korean defectors working at a Seoul-based shortwave radio station that targets audiences in North Korea planned a special section on the U.S. election in their regular program Tuesday night.

In the recorded program, the defectors explained the U.S. election system and compared it with the North Korean system, where a sole parliamentary candidate will win with nearly 100 percent of the vote, according to station head Kim Seong Min.

"We also explained that in South Korea it's hard for one candidate to win more than 50 percent of votes cast, as there are diverse opinions. (In the U.S.), challengers often compete against an incumbent president, and we stressed that that's something that couldn't happen in North Korea," he said.

"We said that we hope this kind of election system will someday be possible in North Korea, and that there were revolutions in the Middle East to achieve this kind of system," Kim said.

Kim said many North Korean defectors have testified that they listened to the station's radio programs before leaving North Korea, though he doesn't know how many listen daily.

— Hyung-jin Kim

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OBAMA INDOORS

Win or lose, Barack Obama's election night party will look far different than it did four years ago, when 125,000 people gathered on an unseasonably warm night in Chicago's Grant Park. The campaign decided not to test its weather luck this year and is holding the election night event indoors, at the McCormick Place convention center.

The decision appears to have been a smart one. The weather in Chicago on Tuesday night is forecast to be cold and rainy.

"I won't guarantee that they'll get it right, but I think they will." — Mitt Romney, asked on WTAM radio in Cleveland whether he agrees with Ronald Reagan's conclusion that voters always get it right in the end.

"Now voting, Joe Biden," announced the polling place worker manning a booth in Greenville, Del., the vice president's home state. Biden went into the booth and — presumably — voted for himself and President Barack Obama.

Like the other early-morning voters, Biden waited his turn in line, along with his wife, Jill.

Any final thoughts? "I hope everybody exercises their right to vote. It's a great honor. And people who are standing in line in a lot of places, I encourage you to stand in line as long as you have to."